September 7, 2010

Talk about the least servicey kind of journalism, ever. Following in the wake of their crosstown rivals, the New York Daily News has gone ahead and had their reporters infiltrate a bunch of bars with fake IDs, and then expose them as the kinds of places young people can get into with fake IDs, so young people can no longer get into them anymore.

Via Grub Street, who astutely notes in their headline “Tabloids Determined to Ruin It for Underage Drinkers,” yes, they just don’t want the kids to get crunk. It looks like the NY Daily News waited exactly three months, give or take, to run a nearly identical piece to the New York Post‘s on drinking establishments their underage spies could infiltrate. There’s one crucial difference, however:

The New York Post, June, 2010: “Not of age? Not a problem.
That’s what a Post probe found after sending our own baby-faced 20-year-old intern to try to buy booze at a string of Manhattan bars and bodegas — all of them already in trouble for selling to minors in the last year.”

The New York Daily News, September, 2010: “A pair of News reporters – legally old enough to drink – hit 18 bars this weekend and were admitted or served in 13. Both were able to score sham “emergency IDs” at a Chinatown shop for $108 – with barely a 10-minute wait.”

YES! While the Post just sent their underage intern to drink, the Daily News went downtown to funky Chinatown, where they were able to score the rumored Chinatown Fake IDs throngs of under-21 tourists have heard about, scored, and had consequently confiscated thereafter. For the record, you can totally get in way worse trouble for having a Fake ID than for drinking underage:

Underage individuals caught with fakes, according to an article in the NYU newspaper The Washington Square News, will incur a maximum penalty of one year in state prison. The minimum penalty, the article states, is a court summons, and most offenders are fined, the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control laws state. However if you are cited for a more serious offense then possessing a fraudulent driver’s license can be a felony in New York state and is punishable on a state and federal level, according to New York state law. False ID possession is handled on a case-by-case basis by the courts and can result in a fine of up to $1,000 for first-time offenders.

And two Daily News reporters just totally ‘fessed up to buying and using them! Though they probably won’t get into trouble. And now, for all you NYUers who’re keeping track, here’re the places the Daily News and the New York Post got into using fakes or not using fakes at all:

Bill’s Bar and Burger

Mercury Bar

Tanuki Tavern

Eladio Silverio

EZ Mini Mart

J&K Deli Grocery

Don Juan Deli Grocery

Quick Stop

Kate’s Joint

St. Jerome’s

Salt Bar

Alphabet Lounge

Sequoias Deli

Cosmic Cantina

Pranna

Crash Mansion

PS Plus Inc., a.k.a. Deli & Grocery

Sagaponack Bar & Grill

Bollywood Corner

Jin Won Food

If you’re smart, you won’t hit any of those places, and the ones you do hit, you won’t tell your friends about. Happy drinking.